Into The Future
by ms.rose.red
Summary: (Working Title) Barry and Company have eliminated the black hole threat and life has returned somewhat to normal, Barry is getting stronger, and is practicing time traveling on demand with Cisco. One evening he overshoots his target of one day in the future, for 10 years in the future.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash; I just like to pretend like I can write like the show's writers do.**

 **Feedback of any kind is welcome!**

Chapter 1

Barry sits down wearily on the edge of the slowing treadmill. He wipes sweat from his forehead, he frowns, that's a first. Cisco enters from the control room. Barry looks up at him

"I'm sweating?" Barry asks, confused.

"Well you were running faster than the speed of sound, I would be more worried if you weren't" Cisco chuckles.

Barry stands, and begins pacing around the room.

"Why can't I time travel Cisco? I need to be able to control this."

"I think you just need more practice, once we can figure out what the minimum speed you can time travel at is, it will be much easier for us to predict how far into the past or future you can go." Cisco says leaning against the treadmill.

Barry sighs, and starts to step slowly back onto the treadmill.

"I think we should be done for the night, you have to be starving, and I'm already late for family dinner." Cisco looks guilty as he steps back towards the control room door.

"You go ahead, I'll lock up here."

Cisco nods, and steps back through the door. Barry steps off the treadmill and continues to pace the room, running his hands through his hair. The lights dim in the control room, and he hears the click of the door as Cisco leaves. Barry stares determinately at the treadmill, and takes a deep breath before stepping onto it.

"I can do this," He mutters to himself. He begins at a jog. A steady 50 miles an hour, He ratchets the speed up to 100, then 500, He's at Mach 1 now, just a little faster, he finds the strength, deep inside of him, shutting his eyes against the effort. When he opens them, he's back in that blue vortex, what had Wells called it? The Speed Vortex, he sees images flit by him, some the same as last time. There's the blond who looks like Caitlin, the museum. He's slowing down now, and the images disappear. He forces himself to slow even further and finally comes to a stop, breathing heavily.

When he stands to look around, he realizes the lab and the treadmill at S.T.A.R Labs have disappeared. He stands in a dark alleyway, he hears a sound at the far end of the street and he slinks into the shadows as he watches a couple go by, smiling and kissing.

Barry looks down at himself, fully clad in his Flash costume. Cursing quietly. he inches slowly towards the open street, careful to stay hidden. When he can go no further and avoid detection he spies a clothing store. Closed for the night. Perfect. Speeding across the street he picks the lock with a multi-tool hidden in his suit, thank god for Cisco, and slips inside. He grabs a T-shirt, grey sweatshirt and a pair of jeans off a rack, and tugs them on over his suit. His eye catches the red light of an electronic clock, 8:50pm, below the glow of the time Barry reads the date. February 13th, 2025. 10 years? This is not good. He hadn't thought this through. Cisco left, no one knew when or where he was. How could he have been so stupid?

Back out on the street, and now incognito, he's able to take better stock of his surroundings. He looks up and sees the spires of S.T.A.R Labs rising in the distance. He takes off, racing towards them.

He stops short of the front doors, out of range of the security cameras and draws his grey hood around his face. Just in case.

He reaches the front doors of the familiar building and tugs on them. Locked. He frowns, pulls out his keycard and swipes it on the reader. The light remains red.

"Huh?" he mutters.

He steps out of view of the security cameras, thinking. Deciding. Where could he go? How much could have changed in 10 years?

He pulls his cellphone out of his pocket. He can't help but smile as he looks at his background photo; Iris, Joe, Cisco and Caitlin smile back at him from a group photo taken inside S.T.A.R Labs. The time reads 8:50pm. February 13th, 2015, He checks for bars. No Service.

He taps his fingers absently on his phone as he thinks. Where? Where? An idea occurs to him. Joe would never sell the house. He'll check there first.

Moments later Barry comes skidding to a halt at the street he grew up on. The trees are a little taller, a little older looking. The cars parked outside of the homes are unrecognizable and plugged into charging stations. Some of the familiar bungalow houses at the end of the street had been torn down to make room for a shiny new apartment complex. A bright LED sign projected onto the side of the building makes the street glow with an eerie blue light. _Central City's Hottest New Apartment Complex - The Pines, Now Leasing. Come see us today to hear about our Special Offers._

He's glad to see that the West Family home looks untouched, albeit a little more weathered, and desperately in need of a new coat of paint. A warm glow emanates from a lamp inside a closed curtain at the front of the house.

Walking slowly up to the house he steps around to the side window that is slightly cracked at the bottom. His breath catches in his throat when he sees her. The years have been kind to her; she looks as though she has barely aged a day. She wears a red sweater and jeans. Her long brown hair falling in perfect waves around her shoulders, it's shorter than the last time he saw it, framing her face in perfect layers.

"Iris" he breathes.

She exits the room and reenters a few moments later, carrying a baby boy who cant be more than a few months old. He has a spot of light brown hair, olive skin like Iris, and her eyes. Something about the child strikes him as familiar. Then he remembers the byline on Wells' future newspaper.

Stepping away from the open window, he coughs audibly in shock. The cooing inside stops for a moment and he claps a hand across his mouth. It couldn't be. Could he and Iris really have a son in this future? He waits until he hears the cooing resume and risks another peek inside the window. Iris has disappeared but the little boy remains in his high chair playfully smacking his hands onto the table in front of him. He couldn't be more than a few months old.

There is a small noise as Iris enters the room carrying another child. This one is a little girl with soft feminine features, shocking blue eyes, his eyes, he realizes. Unlike her brother she is still mostly bald, the hair she has is light blonde fuzz around her head, illuminating her olive skin like a halo.

Twins, he and Iris didn't just have children, they had twins.

She's rubbing her eyes, and Barry suddenly feels a strong urge to pick her up and snuggle her. He pushes it back, resisting, unsure how safe it is to reveal himself. Inside, Iris straps the little girl into a second high chair that Barry had been too distracted to see before. The little boy, Carter she calls him, begins smacking his sister's high chair as well as his own, gleefully cooing and giggling.

They look to be a few months old, and she sets them up in a pair of highchairs that Barry had been too distracted to notice. Barry's eyes widen as she coos to the babies. She laughs when blue sparks erupt from where she touches the little boy.

"Careful with that Carter, that's how I found out Daddy's secret identity." Iris smiles as the baby lets out another coo, and turns his attention to his sister next to him, he puts his hand on her, the sparks still emanating from his fingers. She giggles.

Barry finally manages to tear his eyes away from the three of them. He sighs, pulls his sweatshirt back over his head, and speeds away. He needs to find Cisco, needs to get back to his own time.

He stops in front of Jitters. Happy to see that it still exists in this time he pushes open the door, The little coffee shop is relatively empty at this late hour, and so he goes unnoticed as he steps over to a nook in the corner where he knows the public computers are. But he is befuddled when all he sees are a variety of dark screens with no buttons or keyboards. He looks around, lost.

"The brilliant Barry Allen, defeated by a holoscreen." Whispers a female voice from behind him. Barry jumps; startled. He keeps his face hidden, despite the familiarity in the stranger's voice.

"I think you have the wrong guy." He says carefully.

"Do I? Considering how young you look, I'm guessing you are visiting from maybe 10 years ago?" At that Barry turns to look at her, shocked to see the very large baby bump she is sporting.

"Felicity Smoak, that better be Oliver's."

Felicity rolls her eyes.

"Later," She whispers and pushes him back out the front door of the shop, where a black limo waits at the curb.

"Ah, definitely Oliver's, unless, Oh Ew, Is it Palmer's?" Barry teases.

"Just get in," Felicity replies.

Barry enters the car, and Felicity follows. The car glides away from the curb and into the starry central city night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash; I just like to pretend like I can write like the show's writers do.**

 **Authors Note: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Sorry this took so long to post but I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 2

As Barry settles into the cushy seats in the limo Felicity taps the window behind her head. It slides open to reveal an older, more weathered version of John Diggle. His dark hair has started to grey around the edges and he has many more wrinkles and laugh lines than Barry remembers, but most noticeably a deep scar across his right cheek.

"Dig! Good to see you!" Barry smiles at him. He returns the gesture.

"And you as well Barry."

He turns back to the road.

"A lot changes in 10 years I guess." He says, looking back at Felicity. Then all of his questions come tumbling out in a jumble of words and sentences. "How are you? How is everyone else? Joe, Iris? What are you doing in Central City? Are you and Oliver married? Do you have any other children? What are Cisco, and Caitlin up to? I stopped by S.T.A.R Labs but my badge wouldn't work… Do I still work there?"

Felicity puts a hand on her huge stomach and laughs.

"Woah, slow down. Even without pregnancy brain I wouldn't have caught half of that. I can't remember, is this the first time you've travelled this far into the future?"

Barry nods.

"Ah okay. Explanation time…" She is cut off by a loud ringing, and the sudden blue glow of a screen hovering near the door, Grabbing the it between two fingers, Felicity pulls it towards her, accepting the request for a video chat.

"No way." Barry exclaims.

"Welcome to the future Bar." She pushes the screen back towards the door where it hovers in the perfect location for them both to see it, after a moment Oliver's face lights up the dark car. He looks concerned.

"Did you find him? Please tell me it was him and not…"

Barry cuts in.

"Hi Oliver!"

"Hey man, good to see you," He turns to look at Felicity again. "How are my girls?"

Felicity rolls her eyes.

"Ollie, it's been a half hour."

"Felicity, you are due any second. It's not safe." He says gritting his teeth like he does when frustrated. "Just get back here as soon as you can."

"Roger that love." Felicity replies and the screen shuts off

Barry is biting his lip to keep the laughter back.

"Oliver Queen, domesticated? I never thought I'd see the day. I gotta say Felicity. I'm kinda proud."

Felicity smiles conspiratorially, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach.

"So, where are we going?" Barry asks, looking out the window. They were leaving downtown Central City and the spires of Star Labs were retreating quickly behind them.

"You'll see"

A short while later, they pull up to a run down building. Trash litters the ground around the boarded up door, and the edifice is covered in murals of graffiti, the paint on some of it so old the colors have begun to fade and peel. It reaches up about five floors and looks as though it was once a simple office building, in what could have been a respectable area. Diggle comes around to open the door for the pair of them and Barry steps out, looking confused. Across the street in a dusty field, groups of homeless men and women huddle around makeshift fires. Barry turns back to Felicity as she steps up to the boarded door.

"Isn't this Oak Glen? What happened here?" He asks

"Time isn't kind to all things Barry." Felicity replies, somber for a moment. Then she steps in front of the door. "Well, here we are!"

"Here?" Barry replies, "But the door…" Felicity rolls her eyes at him.

"Really Barry you ought to learn to have a little more faith in my genius." Felicity jams her finger against a rusty doorknob, a small hole opens and felicity slides her finger inside. There is a whirring, and then a small voice whispers.

"Welcome back, Mrs. Queen."

Felicity smiles and pushes the door inwards. The voice in the knob whispers again.

"Password?"

Felicity smiles, and looks at Barry.

"Justice"

"You may enter"

The boarded up door slides into the earth below, revealing an elevator behind it, Barry follows Felicity inside, She waves to Dig.

"See you inside?" She asks him, and he nods, stepping back towards the limo.

The door shuts behind them, Felicity steps up to a screen inside the elevator that scans her eye. There is a jolt and a series of creaks and they begin to move upwards

"I mean, a fingerprint scanner? Aren't those easily hacked?" Barry teases.

"Not when an incomplete or incorrect fingerprint will result in the loss of that digit."

"Felicity Smoak, do you mean to say, that thing would cut someone's finger off?" Barry is shocked; he had never really envisioned Felicity as the violent type.

"Yes. The door is also impenetrable, in case you were wondering, Impervious to extreme heat, and cold, and metahumans."

Barry looks at her astonished.

"No way, that's not even possible, how can you keep all metahumans out?"

Felicity smiles mischievously.

"Now remember Bar, I can't tell you everything!"

There is a soft ding and the elevator comes to a stop and the doors slide open, revealing a large space. One wall is taken up entirely by a multitude of the same black screens Barry had seen in the limo. The other looks like a living area complete with a kitchen, couches and even a bed. Another area of the room is occupied by a salmon ladder identical to the one inside the Arrow Cave in Starling. Along with various racks of Arrows and other weapons, accompanied by cases holding Mannequins wearing the Arrow Costume, and Thea's speedy outfit. In a smaller case, resting on a mannequin head, are the goggles he and Caitlin had created for Cisco.

"Welcome to Central City Headquarters Bar"

Barry takes it all in, a door opens on the side of the room that looks like an apartment and Oliver comes through it. He rushes over to felicity and walks her to the couch. She turns her head and rolls her eyes at Barry.

"I'm okay Ollie. Really!"

Once Oliver is sure she's seated and comfortable, he gestures to a chair for Barry and takes the spot next to Felicity. There's a ding, and on the opposite side of the room a camouflaged elevator door slides back from the wall, and Dig enters, coming over to join the group.

"So what year is it for you right now?" Oliver asks Barry.

"Uh, 2015."

Oliver whistles.

"So it's your first time then, coming this far into the future?"

"Yes but how do you all…" Barry stops himself. Of course they would know he time traveled, clearly they still worked together.

"I'm sure you have questions" Oliver replies, " But just know, we can't tell you everything."

Barry is quiet for a moment.

"I take it you guys are married?"

Oliver chuckles, and holds up Felicity's hand, upon which rests a massive diamond ring.

"3 years"

Barry was having a hard time believing this happy, joking Oliver was real.

"Any other kids I should know about?" Barry asks

"Yes, Connor. He's 2." Replies Oliver.

Barry laughs, looking around the room again.

"Geez, you guys didn't waste any time. Where is he? Congrats by the way." He winks at the pair of them.

"With Layla and Sara tonight, we figured you would be confused enough as it is."

"How did you guys know I was going to be here? And where to find me?"

"Well you can thank Cisco for that, remember that tacheyon prototype that you guys lifted from Mercury Labs?" Says Oliver.

Barry nods. Oliver stands up and beckons for Barry to follow him over to the wall of mannequin cases, on an empty patch of wall is a keypad. Oliver punches a few numbers in, and the wall slides away to reveal a glowing blue tube, that seems to be humming.

"I wouldn't touch it, I have no idea where it would send you. Cisco modified it to not only aid in the time travel process, but also tell us via this holoscreen," Oliver grabs one floating next to the case and taps it. A map of city lights up, there are strong concentrations of red dots in a few different areas, S.T.A.R Labs, his old house, and Jitters, all of the places he had been that night. "When there is a tacheyon disturbance in the city." Barry steps closer to it, "This can detect it?" Barry replies, "Amazing."

"You said I can't touch it, but can it help get me back to my time?" Oliver frowns.

"No."

"Well that's fine! Cisco modified the thing right? We'll just have him help. Where is he by the way?"

Oliver is quiet as he taps the screen again, and releases it. They step away from the device. It slides back into the wall and there is a click as the keypad glows red. The mood change in the room is palpable. What moments ago felt like a happy warm reunion has suddenly turned icy.

When they are seated again, Barry speaks.

"Where is he guys?"

Felicity and Oliver look at each other.

"We haven't seen or heard from Cisco in a long time." Felicity says. Barry is puzzled.

"How long is long?" He asks.

"6 years." Felicity replies.

"Where is he now?" Felicity drops her eyes to the floor.

" I don't know" She whispers, "I've tried Bar. But Cisco's a smart guy, when he doesn't want to be found, he can't be."

"Why? Why doesn't he want to be found?"

Oliver steals a glance at Dig that Barry notices.

"What aren't you guys telling me?"

 **teeheehee sorry for the cliffhanger guys! I apologize that this chapter took so long to post, I was dealing with some things in my personal life, but from now on I will be posting once a week. Probably Friday or Saturday!**

 **Thank you so much for all your reviews, they keep me inspired! So please, if you see something you like, or don't like, let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHORS NOTE:**

 **Hi Guys, I apologize it has taken me so long to get these two chapters done, I was experiencing some serious writers block and things in my work life got really unexpectedly crazy. I will have the next chapter up within the next two weeks. Please continue to let me know your thoughts, and like/subscribe!**

 **Thank you all for all of your support so far, enjoy!**

 **(Thank you to all of you who let me know the formatting was off on this chapter!) It should be fixed now!**

Chapter 3

Moments later they are back in the limo, this time Oliver has joined them in the backseat. They glide through the brightly lit streets of Central City, about a half hour passes in confused silence. The car begins to twist up a windy road. They reach the top of a hill and stop outside the beautifully carved stone gates to a cemetery.

The chilly February air whistles past Barry's face as Dig opens the car door. As he steps out he can feel the dread growing in his stomach.

Oliver pulls out a key, and inserts it into the gate. It creaks open ominously. He beckons to Barry and he obliges, stepping through. Oliver and Felicity lead him through the rows of headstones until they reach one towards the back. It is a simple design, just a small square, but it is crafted from a sheet of beautiful black and blue marble, that sparkles where the moonlight hits it. Oliver shines the light of his phone onto the marble so Barry can read the description. _Caitlin Elizabeth Snow 1987-2019, "Beloved Wife, Daughter and Friend, She lived as she died, a Hero."_

For a moment, all the air has left Barry's chest and speeds out of the cemetery and back to the limo. He stops, trying to catch his breath.

There is a creak behind him as the gate is pushed open, and Felicity comes to stand next to him.

They are quiet for a moment, staring out at the lights of Central City.

"We buried her here because she loved being up high, close to the stars. It made her feel closer to Ronnie when he was off on one of his missions with Stein."

Barry says nothing.

"We were tracking a group of advanced Metahumans calling themselves H.I.V.E who discovered a way to break out of the Pipeline. They had disappeared, and there had been no signs of them for months, Caitlin received a call that one of her colleagues at a S.T.A.R Labs outpost in the Artic had committed suicide. So she left to help with the investigation. What she didn't know was that it was a trap, H.I.V.E captured her and held her as a prisoner for weeks inside the thermodynamic engine that her colleague was working on. They weakened her, starving her of all except minimum food and water to keep her alive, and then finally, ransomed her to us. They would release her, if we gave them you. Naturally, we planned a rescue mission, but they sensed you coming before you arrived, and killed her inside the engine."

Felicity pauses, her eyes glistening with tears.

"She was my best friend Bar… Cisco blamed himself for not going with her, for not protecting her. I guess we were constant reminders of that failure. So he left, and we haven't heard from him since."

A few more minutes pass in silence. Then finally Barry speaks

"Why didn't I go back and keep her from going?"

Felicity sighs.

"It took you a long time to master the speed force, Bar. Time travel is far from an exact science, and at that point you hadn't yet figured out how to travel to a specific time and location, you tried though. I promise you that. For the better part of 3 years you were trying to get back to that day, but I think the pain got to be too much.

"And you're sure Cisco's still out there? What if they've gotten to him as well?" Barry asks.

"There have been some indicators over the years. Every so often some hint of his presence, an anonymous tip to a lab for some sort of tech, or to us on a mission, He's definitely still out there… somewhere."

The silence that follows is eventually interrupted by Oliver and Dig's reappearance. When they are all standing by the car, Barry speaks.

"We need to find Cisco."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The stench in the house is overbearing. The early morning sun dances across piles of trash, and dirty dishes on the floor.A cockroach scuttles across old pizza boxes, and half eaten sandwiches on the floor. On a ripped couch, an island in a sea of filth, lays a young man. It looks as though he hasn't bathed in weeks, perhaps years. He is snoring loudly; a muted holoscreen in the corner is showing some kind of ridiculous daytime game show. There is a jangle of keys outside of the door on the far side of the living room and the man jolts into an upright position. Muted voices talk cheerily outside the door. The man springs into action, grabbing the holoscreen and a bag in the corner, and leaps through the broken glass on the open back door, cutting his arm on the broken glass in the process.

The front door opens and a cheery real estate agent takes in the scene in horror. The man and woman behind her coughing in disgust, the woman closes the door and turns to her clients.

"I am so sorry, we do have a problem with squatters in this neighborhood, but you gotta admit, the place does have potential!"

The man slows to a walk a few blocks from the house, holding his heavily bleeding arm. The cut is deep. He spots a bench up ahead and sits down, trying to staunch the bleeding as best he can, but he has already lost a lot of blood. There is a scream as a young woman passing by notices the blood. The young man has begun to loose consciousness. The woman kneels down in front of him.

"Sir, Sir, are you alright?" She asks.

He can barely understand her.

"Sir, you need to stay awake, the ambulance will be here any second"

The young man hears that and tries to move.

"No ambulance, no hospital." He mumbles, she pushes him back against the cold hard wood of the bench.

"Sir you've lost a lot of blood already, you wont make it if I don't get you to the hospital." In the distance, the young man hears the wail of the siren, right before he looses consciousness.


End file.
